Jungle Primaries and Ranked-Choice Voting are Bad. Combining Them Is Worse

Alaska held a special election August 16 to replace Republican Don Young, who died in March after nearly four decades in the House. Wednesday night, 15 days after the votes were cast, the state finally declared a winner: Democrat Mary Peltola. Peltola got 39.7 percent of the vote; the two Republican candidates, Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III, combined for nearly 60 percent of the vote. Thus, a 60–40 Republican electorate ends with the election of a Democrat.

This is not an illegitimate or rigged result: The race was conducted under new election rules, and under those rules, which all candidates knew in advance, the Democrat won fair and square. The outcome reflects a number of dynamics, including Palin’s polarizing nature and personal unpopularity outside the Republican base, Begich’s unusual partisan identity (running as a Republican, but with a family name synonymous with Alaska Democrats), Alaska’s perennially quirky politics, and the apparent failure of Republicans to adequately adjust their strategy to Alaska’s new election system. Republicans didn’t need to lose this race and would not have lost it with different candidate choices. Still, the outcome nonetheless reflects the ridiculous perversity of Alaska’s new system, which combines a “jungle primary” with a unique ranked-choice voting system.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Alaska held a special election August 16 to replace Republican Don Young, who died in March after nearly four decades in the House. Wednesday night, 15 days after the votes were cast, the state finally declared a winner: Democrat Mary Peltola. Peltola got 39.7 percent of the vote; the two Republican candidates, Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III, combined for nearly 60 percent of the vote. Thus, a 60–40 Republican electorate ends with the election of a Democrat.

This is not an illegitimate or rigged result: The race was conducted under new election rules, and under those rules, which all candidates knew in advance, the Democrat won fair and square. The outcome reflects a number of dynamics, including Palin’s polarizing nature and personal unpopularity outside the Republican base, Begich’s unusual partisan identity (running as a Republican, but with a family name synonymous with Alaska Democrats), Alaska’s perennially quirky politics, and the apparent failure of Republicans to adequately adjust their strategy to Alaska’s new election system. Republicans didn’t need to lose this race and would not have lost it with different candidate choices. Still, the outcome nonetheless reflects the ridiculous perversity of Alaska’s new system, which combines a “jungle primary” with a unique ranked-choice voting system.